{"id":20886,"date":"2021-12-06T15:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-12-06T15:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2021\/12\/06\/bath-iron-works-plays-catch-up-on-ship-delivery-after-years-of-upheaval\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T21:54:25","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T21:54:25","slug":"bath-iron-works-plays-catch-up-on-ship-delivery-after-years-of-upheaval","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/naval\/2021\/12\/06\/bath-iron-works-plays-catch-up-on-ship-delivery-after-years-of-upheaval\/","title":{"rendered":"Bath Iron Works plays catch-up on ship delivery after years of upheaval"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

BATH, Maine \u2014 2020 was a bad year for Bath Iron Works, one of two shipyards that builds the Arleigh Burke-class destroyer, the workhorse of the U.S. Navy fleet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Already facing workforce challenges years in the making, the yard then encountered a global pandemic<\/a> and a nine-week strike<\/a> by its largest labor union.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the shipyard fell further behind in its already delayed deliveries of U.S. Navy destroyers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But yard leaders say they took steps this year toward restoring the relationship with the union, and they see opportunities in 2022 to lower attrition and hire new employees as they strengthen the next generation of shipbuilders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During a recent visit to the shipyard, Bath Iron Works President Dirk Lesko told Defense News it\u2019s still \u201cspeculative\u201d whether those changes \u2014 coupled with investments in facilities and tooling to boost efficiency \u2014 will be enough to reverse years of delays in the production line.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lesko said the shipyard has transformed what\u2019s directly under its control: the tooling used to make ships, the facilities where work is done, and the processes that direct the flow of both materials and people around the main shipyard as well as its six satellite locations in the Bath and Brunswick areas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat we\u2019ve tried to do in a very logical way is work through beginning to end of the process, [making] investments in reliability, productivity and then the environment that the workforce operates in,\u201d he said in a Nov. 16 interview.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ultimately, however, the shipyard must grow the size and skill set of its workforce if it wants to get its backlog of work on schedule and remain competitive as it pursues an upcoming, and somewhat unexpected, multiyear procurement deal for more Arleigh Burke-class destroyers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A deteriorating workforce<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

In the late 1980s, Bath Iron Works, which boasts a 133-year shipbuilding history, began to dramatically increase its workforce after the company won the contract to design and build the first Aegis Combat System-equipped Arleigh Burke-class destroyers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the late 1990s, the shipbuilder\u2019s workforce nearly regulated itself. The Navy\u2019s demand for surface combatants fell as the yard became more efficient in its shipbuilding processes, and the natural attrition rate among staff matched the rate of decline of the yard\u2019s required workforce size.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But over the last decade, the workforce has become increasingly imbalanced. Nearly 60% of the company\u2019s employees have been on the job fewer than five years. Ray Gauthier, Local S6 chief steward of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers , told Defense News the situation led to delays. With green managers giving less-than-precise orders to inexperienced shipbuilders, the amount of rework needed on ships grew and the pace of deliveries fell behind, he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\t